1. Chart Of Accounts Definition
1.1. How many legal entities do you have?
1.2. Do they all use the same chart of accounts?
1.3. Do they all use the same accounting calendar?
1.4. Do they all use the same currency?
1.5. In how many sites are these legal entities located?
1.6. Do you currently do periodic consolidation of these locations in reporting?
1.7. How often do you perform this consolidation?
1.8. What does your current chart of accounts look like (e.g., number of fields, size of each field)?
1.9. Describe the function served by each field in your chart of accounts.
1.10. What are the deficiencies in your current chart of accounts?
1.11. Describe your accounting calendar(s):
1.11.1. number of periods in year,
1.11.2. year end.
1.12. How do you want to report profit and loss (e.g., by organization, product line)?
1.13. What are your cross company/department/cost center security requirements?
2. Journal Entry
2.1. Which of the following types of journal entries do you need:
2.1.1. regular?
2.1.2. recurring?
2.1.3. allocations/formula based?
2.1.4. self reversing (next period/future period)?
2.1.5. statistical entries (e.g., square footage, head count)?
2.1.6. system generated inter-company balancing entries?
2.1.7. system generated suspense posting?
2.1.8. revaluation (foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations)?
2.2. Do you use batches to enter journals?
2.3. Do you use control totals when entering journals?
2.4. Do you reverse journals on a regular basis? Explain why.
2.5. Do you have any input documents that you currently use? Can you provide copies?
2.6. Is there any information that is kept at the journal entry level which might be considered unique?
2.7. Do you have any audit requirements which might be considered unique?
3. Budgeting
3.1. Describe your budget preparation process. How many budgets do you prepare? When are they prepared?
3.2. Do you create a starting budget from last years budget or actuals?
3.3. Do you budget in spread sheets?
3.4. What level do you currently budget at (e.g., fully coded account level)?
3.5. Are budgets confidential across organizations (companies, departments, etc.)?
3.6. Are budgets frozen at a certain point?
3.7. Do you do budget transfers throughout the year?
3.8. Do you have multiple budget versions?
3.9. Do you need to perform mass updates to budgets (e.g., cut travel related expenses by five percent across the board)?
4. Multi-Currency
4.1. How many currencies do you use and what are they?
4.2. What is your policy on changing currency rates?
4.3. Do you perform consolidation between various businesses that use different currencies?
4.4. Do you do data entry in multiple currencies?
4.5. Do you generate reports in multiple currencies?
4.6. Do you do translations monthly into foreign currencies?
4.7. What account values do you use for cumulative foreign currency gain or loss?
4.8. Do you have any special audit requirements for foreign currency accounts?
4.9. Do you need to inquire into original entered currency balances?
5. Posting / Closing
5.1. How frequently are journal entries posted to your general ledger balances?
5.2. Describe journal posting procedures.
5.3. Describe your closing process.
5.4. How long does it take to close?
5.5. Is the closing schedule consistent across all companies?
5.6. Describe your requirements for prior period adjustments.
5.7. How long does it take to close at year end?
5.8. Do you use a period 13 at year end closing?
6. Project Accounting
6.1. How many projects do you currently have?
6.2. How many new projects are created each period, on average?
6.3. How many projects are inactivated each period?
6.4. What purpose is accomplished by setting up projects?
6.5. What type information is tracked for each project:
6.5.1. project description?
6.5.2. project manager?
6.5.3. responsible department?
6.5.4. project start date?
6.5.5. project end date?
6.5.6. total project budget?
6.5.7. project type?
6.5.8. other?
6.6. How are project numbers assigned?
6.7. Describe other project accounting requirements.
7. Inquiries
7.1. What standard inquiries do you require:
7.1.1. account balance inquiry by period for a fiscal year?
7.1.2. summarized account balance inquiry by period for a fiscal year (e.g., all sales and marketing expenses for division A)?
7.1.3. drill down capability from account balance inquiry to journal entry detail?
7.1.4. drill down capability from journal entry to source transaction(s) (e.g., drill down to the accounts payable invoices making up a journal entry)?
7.1.5. other?
7.2. Does inquiry access need to be restricted by user, by company and/or division or cost center?
8. Reports
8.1. What standard reports do you require:
8.1.1. income statement?
8.1.2. balance sheet?
8.1.3. trial balance?
8.1.4. general ledger?
8.1.5. others?
8.2. How frequently are reports generated and how are they distributed?
8.3. What reporting structures do you use (e.g., cost center, product, geography)?
8.4. Do you require ad hoc reporting for end users?
8.5. Are there any reporting requirements which you might consider out of the ordinary?
9. Interfaces
9.1. What systems are interfaced with general ledger:
9.1.1. accounts payable?
9.1.2. billing system(s)?
9.1.3. cash receipts?
9.1.4. inventory?
9.1.5. fixed assets?
9.1.6. payroll?
9.1.7. other?
9.2. For each of the interfaces listed note how the interfaces are accomplished (e.g., manually, automatically, or via spreadsheet upload).
10. Security
10.1. Describe duty separation requirements.
10.2. Is data entry restricted by company and/or department or cost center?
11. Other
11.1. Describe the five best features of the current system.
11.2. Describe the five biggest deficiencies of the current system.
11.3. Describe any major general ledger areas not already covered.
12. Volumes
12.1. How many accounts (e.g., cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable) are in your chart of accounts?
12.2. How many fully qualified accounts are in your chart of accounts?
12.3. How many accounting periods in each fiscal year?
12.4. How many manual journal entry lines are recorded per period?
12.5. How many total journal entry lines are recorded per period?
12.6. How many years of account history do you store on-line and at what level of detail?
12.7. How many budgets do you prepare per fiscal year?
12.8. How many years of budget information do you store on-line?
12.9. How many projects do you currently have defined?
12.10. How many projects are added each period?
12.11. How many projects are inactivated each period?
1.1. How many legal entities do you have?
1.2. Do they all use the same chart of accounts?
1.3. Do they all use the same accounting calendar?
1.4. Do they all use the same currency?
1.5. In how many sites are these legal entities located?
1.6. Do you currently do periodic consolidation of these locations in reporting?
1.7. How often do you perform this consolidation?
1.8. What does your current chart of accounts look like (e.g., number of fields, size of each field)?
1.9. Describe the function served by each field in your chart of accounts.
1.10. What are the deficiencies in your current chart of accounts?
1.11. Describe your accounting calendar(s):
1.11.1. number of periods in year,
1.11.2. year end.
1.12. How do you want to report profit and loss (e.g., by organization, product line)?
1.13. What are your cross company/department/cost center security requirements?
2. Journal Entry
2.1. Which of the following types of journal entries do you need:
2.1.1. regular?
2.1.2. recurring?
2.1.3. allocations/formula based?
2.1.4. self reversing (next period/future period)?
2.1.5. statistical entries (e.g., square footage, head count)?
2.1.6. system generated inter-company balancing entries?
2.1.7. system generated suspense posting?
2.1.8. revaluation (foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations)?
2.2. Do you use batches to enter journals?
2.3. Do you use control totals when entering journals?
2.4. Do you reverse journals on a regular basis? Explain why.
2.5. Do you have any input documents that you currently use? Can you provide copies?
2.6. Is there any information that is kept at the journal entry level which might be considered unique?
2.7. Do you have any audit requirements which might be considered unique?
3. Budgeting
3.1. Describe your budget preparation process. How many budgets do you prepare? When are they prepared?
3.2. Do you create a starting budget from last years budget or actuals?
3.3. Do you budget in spread sheets?
3.4. What level do you currently budget at (e.g., fully coded account level)?
3.5. Are budgets confidential across organizations (companies, departments, etc.)?
3.6. Are budgets frozen at a certain point?
3.7. Do you do budget transfers throughout the year?
3.8. Do you have multiple budget versions?
3.9. Do you need to perform mass updates to budgets (e.g., cut travel related expenses by five percent across the board)?
4. Multi-Currency
4.1. How many currencies do you use and what are they?
4.2. What is your policy on changing currency rates?
4.3. Do you perform consolidation between various businesses that use different currencies?
4.4. Do you do data entry in multiple currencies?
4.5. Do you generate reports in multiple currencies?
4.6. Do you do translations monthly into foreign currencies?
4.7. What account values do you use for cumulative foreign currency gain or loss?
4.8. Do you have any special audit requirements for foreign currency accounts?
4.9. Do you need to inquire into original entered currency balances?
5. Posting / Closing
5.1. How frequently are journal entries posted to your general ledger balances?
5.2. Describe journal posting procedures.
5.3. Describe your closing process.
5.4. How long does it take to close?
5.5. Is the closing schedule consistent across all companies?
5.6. Describe your requirements for prior period adjustments.
5.7. How long does it take to close at year end?
5.8. Do you use a period 13 at year end closing?
6. Project Accounting
6.1. How many projects do you currently have?
6.2. How many new projects are created each period, on average?
6.3. How many projects are inactivated each period?
6.4. What purpose is accomplished by setting up projects?
6.5. What type information is tracked for each project:
6.5.1. project description?
6.5.2. project manager?
6.5.3. responsible department?
6.5.4. project start date?
6.5.5. project end date?
6.5.6. total project budget?
6.5.7. project type?
6.5.8. other?
6.6. How are project numbers assigned?
6.7. Describe other project accounting requirements.
7. Inquiries
7.1. What standard inquiries do you require:
7.1.1. account balance inquiry by period for a fiscal year?
7.1.2. summarized account balance inquiry by period for a fiscal year (e.g., all sales and marketing expenses for division A)?
7.1.3. drill down capability from account balance inquiry to journal entry detail?
7.1.4. drill down capability from journal entry to source transaction(s) (e.g., drill down to the accounts payable invoices making up a journal entry)?
7.1.5. other?
7.2. Does inquiry access need to be restricted by user, by company and/or division or cost center?
8. Reports
8.1. What standard reports do you require:
8.1.1. income statement?
8.1.2. balance sheet?
8.1.3. trial balance?
8.1.4. general ledger?
8.1.5. others?
8.2. How frequently are reports generated and how are they distributed?
8.3. What reporting structures do you use (e.g., cost center, product, geography)?
8.4. Do you require ad hoc reporting for end users?
8.5. Are there any reporting requirements which you might consider out of the ordinary?
9. Interfaces
9.1. What systems are interfaced with general ledger:
9.1.1. accounts payable?
9.1.2. billing system(s)?
9.1.3. cash receipts?
9.1.4. inventory?
9.1.5. fixed assets?
9.1.6. payroll?
9.1.7. other?
9.2. For each of the interfaces listed note how the interfaces are accomplished (e.g., manually, automatically, or via spreadsheet upload).
10. Security
10.1. Describe duty separation requirements.
10.2. Is data entry restricted by company and/or department or cost center?
11. Other
11.1. Describe the five best features of the current system.
11.2. Describe the five biggest deficiencies of the current system.
11.3. Describe any major general ledger areas not already covered.
12. Volumes
12.1. How many accounts (e.g., cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable) are in your chart of accounts?
12.2. How many fully qualified accounts are in your chart of accounts?
12.3. How many accounting periods in each fiscal year?
12.4. How many manual journal entry lines are recorded per period?
12.5. How many total journal entry lines are recorded per period?
12.6. How many years of account history do you store on-line and at what level of detail?
12.7. How many budgets do you prepare per fiscal year?
12.8. How many years of budget information do you store on-line?
12.9. How many projects do you currently have defined?
12.10. How many projects are added each period?
12.11. How many projects are inactivated each period?